Where The Newspaper Stands

September 04, 2002

FAMIS

Outreach will boost local enrollment

Starting this fall, Virginia's children stand the best chance yet of receiving the health insurance due them through the state-administered, federally underwritten FAMIS program. Legislative changes that streamline the application process and remove barriers to the Family Access to Medical Insurance Security program kicked in on Sunday. And outreach workers are now in place to help families navigate the system and enlist eligible children.

The almost-free program (minimal co-pays are required for treatment, none for preventive care) is geared to children who don't qualify for Medicaid but whose parents can't afford private health insurance. Eligibility is set at 200 percent of the federal poverty level, so, for example, children in a family of four whose gross annual income does not exceed $36,200 would qualify under current guidelines.

The approximately 42,000 children currently enrolled in FAMIS represent only half of all those eligible. Several factors account for the low numbers, according to Cindi Jones, deputy director of the state's Department of Medical Assistance Services, which conducts the program.

The main deterrent to full enrollment, she says, was the government's former complete separation of the Medicaid and FAMIS programs. Yet, because income eligibility was determined differently according to the children's ages, 40 percent of FAMIS families have children split between the two programs.

With the new guidelines this can no longer happen. They allow all children in a family to be in one program or the other, based on income alone. Likewise, families can now apply for either program through their local Department of Social Services or through the FAMIS office in Richmond. By packaging the two applications together, as part of an overall drive to provide health insurance for Virginia's children, Jones anticipates a boom in enrollment.

This boom has to come from the localities, though, so it's entirely dependent on local training and initiatives at health centers, schools, day-care facilities, employers and the like. While cities such as Williamsburg, Arlington and Fairfax have been models in seeking out and signing up eligible children, others such as Newport News, Hampton and Poquoson, with sign-up rates of 35 percent, 42 percent and 37 percent respectively, are more typical.

The addition of an outreach worker on the Peninsula, funded for a year from August by the GiveSmart arm of the United Way of the Virginia Peninsula and Riverside Health System, should go a long way to making sure that all local children receive health care.

Madison Heights

Single-family homes and lawns replace blight

Block by block, the Madison Heights neighborhood in Newport News is blossoming. That's because single-family houses with lawns are replacing old, densely packed housing and blighted houses and vacant lots.

Since 1997, the Newport News Redevelopment and Housing Authority has built 47 single-family houses on 25th and 26th streets in the East End. Sometime this month the authority expects to break ground on lots for 10 more houses in the 600, 700 and 800 blocks of 27th Street.

This growing mass of new houses is healing medicine for a sickly neighborhood. Citywide, about 60 percent of residences are owned, but in the East End, homeownership is only 36 percent, so the added houses will help stabilize the neighborhood.

The look of the community is changing. Former houses were packed on 25-foot-wide lots. Now the replacement houses are built on 50-foot-wide lots that have space for lawns.

Several homeowners say that break-ins and other street crime have declined because the boarded-up houses and vacant lots that were havens for troublemakers have been replaced by homes owned by people motivated to protect their investments.

And homeowners and officials say property values are rising in the community. Houses that were purchased for about $70,000 about five years ago are now worth about $90,000.

There is a waiting list of families trying to buy homes. The housing authority wants to build more if it can acquire lots and demolish blighted houses fast enough.

The redevelopment authority is creating a place where low- to moderate-income families -- teachers, police, nurses, shipyard workers and others -- can own new homes in the core city. Based on income, individuals and families can get below-market interest loans and down- payment assistance from the redevelopment authority and agencies such as the Virginia Housing Development Authority.

Lately, interested homebuyers have had incomes that exceeded the limit for loan incentives and assistance. While the authority tries to figure out ways to grab these customers, they are good indicators that a city neighborhood is developing a reputation as an attractive place to seek single-family housing.